A Police Union Leader’s Controversial Run for Vancouver Council

Next January, Ralph Kaisers’ conduct will likely be scrutinized during a judicial hearing that will examine just what police union representatives advised officers to do after the brutal 2015 death of a man at the hands of the police.

But first, Kaisers is hoping to win a seat on Vancouver city council in an April 5 by-election to fill two seats. Kaisers is running with Mayor Ken Sim’s ruling ABC (A Better City) party, which came to power in 2022 on a promise to hire more police officers to deal with concerns about crime and social disorder.

It’s not the first time a police officer has run for office. Brian Montague, a former Vancouver police officer, won a council seat with ABC in 2022. In the 2024 provincial election, the BC NDP successfully fielded Terry Yung, a senior VPD officer, in the riding of Vancouver-Yaletown, a downtown neighbourhood where crime concerns are top of mind for many residents.

But Kaisers comes with more baggage than usual, and plenty of critics ready to point out his past comments on the Downtown Eastside, pedestrian safety, opposing handgun regulations — and his role in ushering in an era of direct police involvement in politics.

Kaisers says he was inspired to run because of his commitment to public safety and tackling crime. He says he’s on a leave of absence from his police union job as he runs.

But some see problems in police political influence.

"Having an overt presence of police officers, former police officers, people with strong links to the police on council — at a certain point that starts to erode the appearance, and perhaps even the reality, of insulation between elected officials and the police force," said Stewart Prest, a lecturer in political science at the University of British Columbia.

Because ABC has been so close to the police, Prest said, "it creates this possible concern that if you are vocal in your criticism of ABC, is it going to be perceived as being critical of the police? And those should be two entirely different things."

Let’s take a closer look at Kaisers’ record and the issues that will be at play if he’s elected to Vancouver council. Neither Kaisers nor ABC responded to repeated requests for an interview or comment for this story.

Police conduct and the death of Myles Gray

Myles Gray was a 33-year-old small business owner from Powell River who died in 2015 after he was confronted by Vancouver police officers in the backyard of a Burnaby home. Gray, who had bipolar disorder, was likely in a manic state and had been behaving erratically and aggressively.

The events have been examined by the Office of Police Complaints Commissioner, the Independent Investigations Office, Crown prosecutors and a coroner’s inquest. The actions of the 10 police officers who responded to the incident have been under scrutiny for the past decade, in part because there is no independent video record or witnesses. Some officers had to be legally compelled to attend interviews with the IIO, which delayed the investigation process.

In 2023, after hearing days of wrenching testimony about how the officers choked, restrained and violently beat Gray in their attempts to subdue him, a coroner’s inquest jury found that Gray’s death was a homicide, caused by the actions of the officers. Coroner’s inquests are fact-finding, not fault-finding, processes.

Several of the officers involved told an OPCC investigator they did not take notes right after the incident, contrary to VPD procedure, and several took months to complete their official police statement. Some of those officers told the investigator they were told not to take notes at the direction of their Vancouver Police Union representatives.

Const. Josh Wong told the OPCC investigator that he believed it was Kaisers, one of the VPU representatives, who directed him to write his official statement seven months after Gray’s death. He said the seven-month delay in submitting his statement was not common practice.

Wong said union representatives also directed him not to make written notes directly after the incident. If not for that direction from the VPU, he said, he would have made notes directly following the incident.

The conduct of the officers and the union representatives will be examined in a judicial hearing next January. A retired judge will examine whether seven of the officers used unnecessary physical force and to what extent officers were required to make timely notes and statements.

"This is a serious issue in its own right," the OPCC disciplinary authority wrote in its decision to call the hearing. "If subject officers are exempted from requirements to make and preserve contemporaneous notes while criminal investigations or proceedings are pending, valuable evidence would not be... available to assist memories that fade with the passage of time.

“It is in the public interest to get clarity on these matters, including whether relying on advice from a union representative impacts a [police officer’s] potential liability for misconduct.”

Sean Orr, who is running for a council seat with COPE, said he is struggling to understand why ABC would nominate Kaisers "when these questions remain unanswered."

"It's egregious in my opinion," Orr said. "It's insulting to the democratic process."

Kaisers did not respond to questions from The Tyee about his alleged role in the investigation of officer’s actions. But in an interview on the CBC show Early Edition, Mayor Ken Sim said Kaisers "didn't direct anybody not to make an official statement."

Controversial comments on pedestrian safety

In his role as a police union representative, Kaisers has often taken an aggressive stance on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X, in response to commentary or protests complaining about police conduct.

Mihai Cirstea, a member of the advocacy group Vision Zero Vancouver, said he’s particularly concerned about Kaisers’ stance on road safety, drawing attention to a Twitter post from Sept. 28, 2024, when Kaisers cast blame on a pedestrian who had been hit by a police car.

"Wow, another what the heck: police responding to priority call, emergency equip. on, traffic stopped and ped walks between the stopped cars into the side of the police car," Kaisers wrote. "The only charge here should have been for the pedestrian."

While Kaisers characterizes the 2023 collision as a pedestrian walking into a stopped police car, the Independent Investigations Office described the incident this way: "A Vancouver Police Department officer responding to an incident was involved in a collision with a female pedestrian in the 1600-block of Commercial Drive."

William Briscoe, the police officer behind the wheel of the car, has been charged with driving a motor vehicle on a road "without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway." The case is now making its way through provincial court.

The IIO has previously said it takes time and care preparing recommendations for motor vehicle charges for police officers because officers have access to experienced legal counsel.

Cirstea said Kaisers’ comments blaming the pedestrian for being injured are troubling for advocates who plan to continue to ask the city for slower speed limits and redesigned roadways to protect pedestrians.

Cirstea said Kaisers’ tweet showed "contempt" for anyone who raises concerns about police actions. "If you ever dare talk out against the police, or if anyone — even the Independent Investigations Office — dares to say the police might have done something wrong, you just won't stand for it," Cirstea said about Kaisers’ tweet.

Kaisers’ role in police endorsing ABC

When the Vancouver Police Union took the unprecedented step of officially endorsing ABC during the 2022 election campaign, it was Kaiser’s name on the press release, explaining why the move was important.

"Public safety is the number one issue in this year’s civic election. Vancouverites are afraid to walk the streets of their neighbourhoods. Small business owners are struggling to keep their doors open," said Kaisers. "The VPU feels safety is a right — for everyone. Electing Ken Sim and an ABC majority will ensure that police and other front-line responders will have the resources they need to protect and serve Vancouverites."

Orr, who was also a candidate in the 2022 municipal election, attempted to attend a public safety debate featuring several candidates that was hosted by the police union during the campaign.

But Orr said Kaisers asked him to leave after he unfurled a banner that read "police out of politics."

In recent months, Sim and other ABC councillors have adopted a harder line on policies around the Downtown Eastside, passing a motion that halts any new construction of supportive housing. Supportive housing is designed to help people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless stay housed, but some residents and critics have complained that supportive housing brings crime and disorder to neighbourhoods.

Former ABC councillor Rebecca Bligh was recently expelled from the party after she spoke up in support of supportive housing.

Sim and outgoing VPD Chief Adam Palmer also announced a police crackdown on crime in the Downtown Eastside called "Project Barrage" that critics say will only worsen problems in the already heavily-policed area.

Under ABC, the city’s funding for police has risen by 18 per cent, from $370 million in 2022 to $440 million in 2024. In comparison, between 2019 and 2021 the city’s expenditure for policing rose by 11 per cent, from $307 million in 2019 to $340 million in 2021, according to budget reports published by the city.

Orr recalled how in 2022 Kaisers reposted a tweet of an image that read "Fuck the DTES grifters," a photoshopped version of a sign hung by defund police activists that read "Fuck the VPD."

For Orr, the photoshopped sign references a belief, now common in right-wing circles, that activists and social service agencies who work with impoverished people are harming, not helping, the population they serve, and that government funding that goes towards those groups needs to be examined for possible fraud or abuse.

"How are you going to be on city council and have this kind of attitude towards the most marginalized population in Vancouver?" Orr said. "These groups just kind of pop up, in an ad-hoc fashion, to plug many holes in our society and our safety net — and then you're blaming them for the cause of these holes when it's obviously a lot deeper than that."

Opposing handgun regulations

Vancouver’s OneCity party, which is running one candidate in the byelection, has also called attention to Kaisers’ opposition to a new federal law that put strict controls on the transfer and sale of handguns, an issue linked to rising rates of gender-based violence in Canada.

On Oct. 24, 2024, Kaisers said he was opposed to the handgun restrictions, a stance similar to the position taken by John Rustad, the leader of the BC Conservatives.

"Stopping legal sales won’t stop criminals from getting guns illegally," Kaisers wrote on X on Oct. 22, 2024. "You’re only restricting law-abiding citizens while doing little to address actual crime and violence."

OneCity has pointed out that Fiona Wilson, a VPD deputy chief, told Canadian senators that police "have significant concerns about someone who is prone to domestic violence. We’ve seen this in a number of cases across the country, namely, their use of lawfully-owned firearms against their victims… anything that gives us tools to try and combat that is much appreciated."

Lucy Maloney, who is running for a council seat with OneCity, said she’s concerned that ABC is leaning too heavily on policing instead of prevention for social problems like homelessness, drug use and poverty.

Maloney noted a 2022 election promise made by Sim.

"He promised 100 police officers and 100 nurses. Well, he hired 200 police officers and only 12 nurses.”

As she knocks on doors, Maloney said she’s hearing a concerns from residents who are finding it difficult to understand some of the decisions the ABC council has made, like pushing to abolish the elected park board and attempting to pause the work of the integrity commissioner at a time when a complaint involving Sim was before the commissioner.

“People are just getting a general feel that things are not being decided, or actions taken, for reasons that are good for everyone in Vancouver.”